Recap: Once Upon A Time in Somerton III

 
IT was a memorable and exciting card at the La Mirage Reception Centre at Somerton, Victoria on Friday Night.

 
The fans were treated to a spectacular night of boxing which saw a newly crowned women’s world champion (in what could very well be a fight of the year candidate), a highlight reel knockout and an appearance from one of world boxing’s stars.

 
A sell-out crowd packed in to La Mirage Reception Centre in Somerton to witness an action packed seven fight card, highlighted two ladies – who had everyone on their feet – in what was fight of the night for the WIBA super flyweight title between Marnelle Verano and Sylvia Scharper.

 
Abdoulla Haden and Lucas Miller open the night’s proceedings with a hotly contested draw over four rounds of action packed light heavyweight boxing.

 
Up next was rising star, Joel Camilleri who took on fellow Victorian, Steve Attard in what was widely expected to be a very interesting fight after Camilleri took the fight on just 24 hours notice after being called out by Attard.

 
Both boys took the first few rounds to feel one another out with Camilleri using his jab to great effect to keep Attard from his space. Both combatants landed some nice shots until Camilleri landed a monster right hand early in the fourth round that sent the durable Attard to the canvas.

 
The fight was waved away immediately as Attard lay motionless for a period of time on his back. It was a knockout that the likeable Camilleri was very happy with.

 
“Yeah look we all work hard down at Team Labruna,” said Camilleri in his post-fight interview. “We took this fight on 24 hours notice but I was fit and ready to go and we accepted. He called me out so I thought what the hell? We will jump in there and go hard,”

 
“It wasn’t anything specific (the right hand) that we practiced, we are always working on technique and all parts of my game in the gym. I just listened to my corner and the opening came and we capitalised,”

 
Mitchell Clark was next up in the super middleweight division fighting the very tough Hong Yoo.

 
As was expected, the popular Clark who hails from Lucindale in country South Australia, continued on his winning ways with yet another knockout victory to his resume which now stands at six from six wins. The fight was sensibly stopped in round number four.

 
Clark was understandably elated with yet another win.

 
“Yeah just really happy with the win tonight,” Clark said. “It’s just great to have everyone come along and support not only me but all the other fighters as well. I was really happy with my performance but still know that I have areas to improve on,”

 
“We will continue to work on them to get better,”

 
The next bout of the evening was at super lightweight between Shady Sioud and Terry Tzouramanis.

 
In a fiery contest which saw both men spoken to about a number of times by the referee about some untoward tactics during the fight, both men fought hard with the judges scoring unanimously in favour of Tzouramanis 59-55, 59-55, 59-56.

 
The highly touted “Fighting Cowboy” Dwight Ritchie was next up fighting tricky Irishman, Joe Rea.

 
In what was his toughest test to date, Ritchie was confronted with a style he had never encountered before, with the crafty and seasoned Rea constantly switch hitting to confuse the talented and well-schooled Ritchie.

 
Ritchie, to his credit, kept his mind on the job and went on his way to a unanimous points decision with all three judges scoring the bout 59-55.

 
“He was a very tricky opponent that’s for sure. I wasn’t expecting him to switch as much as he did, but we knew he would change things up a little,” said Ritche. “I felt he was expecting me to fall in a bit, but we just stayed patient and used the jab to control the space,”

 
“I wanted to pick it up a bit but fighting a guy with that experience, you’re never going to have it your all own way. Just glad to get the rounds out as it’s been a while since I was last in the ring,”

 
The semi main event was now upon us and what a war it was! Unheralded Filipino Marnelle Verano pulled off, what many saw, as an upset win over the very game and tough Sylvia Scharper for the WIBA super flyweight world title.

 
Both girls constantly moved forward throwing punches in bunches throughout the ten round duration of the fight. Scharper was visibly affected by a badly broken nose suffered early on in the fight.

 
Both had their moments and the bravery of these girls to slug it out with such heart and grit had everyone standing and applauding.

 
Visibly impressed with the fight was world renowned US boxer, Brian Vera (who has fought Julio Cesar Chavez Jr twice and holds wins over Andy Lee and Sergio Mora) who is currently in Australia helping prepare Zac Dunn for his upcoming world super middleweight world title.

 
All three judges scored the bout for Verano 97-93, 97-92, 98-92.

 
The victory was a sweet one for the little known Filipino as she iced her swollen hands in a bucket of ice after the fight smiling from ear to ear along with her trainer, Todd Makelim.

 
The highly anticipated main event was here. The crowd was fired up from the previous bout and were keen to see the rematch between the highly fancied Anthony Buttigieg and Englishman, Ben Capps for the Victorian super welterweight title.

 
The bout certainly didn’t let anyone down as both men spent a majority of the fight on the inside, whacking away with body shots trading blows for the entirety. The fight went to the scorecards and the judges didn’t see the fight unanimously like many had expected.

 
However, Buttigieg did enough to retain his title with the scores of 79-73, 78-74, and 74-78 for Capps.

 
Buttigieg had this to say after the fight.

 
“Yeah he certainly tested me that’s for sure,” added Buttigieg in his post-fight interview. “We both came to fight and I thought I should have won that fight unanimously. Anyway, it is what it is, he gave me a good fight and I got the win,”

 
“It wasn’t my best performance but I will continue to put in the work that’s required and to be the best I can be. We will keep building from here.”

 
 
Words: Dan Smart (Follow Dan on Twitter @dansmart76)
Photo: Marty Camilleri/Marty’s Knockout Photography